Chapter 22: A Lamb's signature

Everyone was in a bit of a tizzy. Lammy was missing, her motorcycle was gone, and the garage door was wide open. Either she ran off on her own, or someone from the syndicate followed them back to base and kidnapped her, either way, trouble was brewing. PaRappa, Katy, Paula, Matt, Ma-San, Sunny, Joe, Sweety and Lars had decided to head out to go find her. They were sure she was heading for the city, so, with no other choice, they floored it in one of the UnderGround's trucks.

"What is she thinking?!" Katy drummed her fingers against the steering wheel. "That girls got some sort of death wish, I swear…"

"L-Let's just take it easy, Katy!" PaRappa was sweating, holding onto the seat and the little handle above his door for dear life. "S-She can handle herself; we've seen her do it!"

("Yeah, we're not gonna be able to get her back if we wipe out.") Ma-San reached in through the open window and flicks Katy in the back of her head.

"I know, I know…! Guys, I'm sorry, but…we just got her back, and I'm not looking to lose her again." Katy slowed herself down, just so she didn't send the others in the bed of the truck flying. They were a few miles away from the city, but wherever Lammy was, she just hoped she wasn't in the tower.

"Don't worry hon…" Lars said, flicking a cigarette into the open road. "She has our training under her belt."

"He's right!" Joe nodded. "She did get the closest to bringing that guitar out of the building than any of us! I have faith that she'll get it this time, we just need to make sure to be there for back up." The others began to murmur in agreement, as Katy sighed, smiling softly.

"I can't argue with that. Still, I hope she's safe…"

Inside the tower, Lammy had gotten inside, the same way she did last time. Looking around, she saw no dummies patrolling, and she made her way for the elevator. If she remembered, they said the guitar was on the fifteenth floor, so once she was in, she slammed her fist on the button for the fifteenth floor, watching as the number slowly get up. The shadow lamb materialized behind her but said nothing. As much as they'd love to screw with her, they wanted to get back to the correct time period they should be in. Once the door opens, she looked around, opening doors and peaking in. She was sure it would be on a pedestal like it was the last time. So far, none of them had the guitar, and she had only one room left to check at the end of the hall. She approached it, and reached for the handle, but stopped when the handle Shaked, and the door opened up. She yelped and fell on her back, scurrying backwards upon seeing who was standing in front of her. Scratch.

"Hello Lammy." She greeted as she steps into the hall, Lammy's guitar in her hand, several noodle dummies behind her. She holds the guitar up as the lamb manages to get back on her feet. "I knew you were going to come back for this."

"You don't know me…" Lammy frowns a bit, keeping her distance from them.

"Believe me…I know you a little more than you might think." She says before putting her hands up, stopping the dummies from moving. "I'll take it from here boys. I only wish to speak with her." The dummies look at each other and just shrugged before walking off into the separate rooms. She motions Lammy to follow her before walking pass her. Curiously, Lammy followed the taller wolf to the elevators, watching her press, what to her at least, was a random order of elevator buttons, all of which seemed to be below the floor they were on. But to her surprise, the elevator was moving upwards.

"I should've been more open about my intentions…" The wolf sighed to herself, looking at the guitar in her hands before moving it towards the lamb, who stared at it for a good moment before taking it, looking it over. "Can we agree on something?"

"…What?" She looked up at the wolf, a brow raised. Why'd she just give her the guitar back?

"Being there for someone…anybody, really, is one of the most noble things you can do? Being there during a rough patch, helping someone with a problem, that sort of thing?"

"…Okay?" She cocked her head a bit before the elevator stopped. The doors open revealing a single hallway, a door to Scratch's office at the very end. Walking down the hall, Lammy saw decorated on the walls were posters, vinyl covers and platinum's of all the bands she had worked with. But once they reached the door, she paused when she spotted a specific band poster, a poster for the band Sheep In Wolves Clothing. There was a young Scratch on the microphone, a brown furred fox on bass with his tongue sticking out, a sheep dog with his red hair covering his eyes, and an oddly familiar looking sheep girl on the guitar. Lammy's guitar.

The girl was left-handed, just like her, sporting a green watch on her right hand, a pink tanktop, some jeans with a crescent moon belt buckle, purple platform shoes, and a purple headband that compressed some of her red afro as they hugged her horns, which curled back a bit.

"…Mom?" She blinked before looking to Scratch. "You used to play with my mom?"

"You got it." Scratch nodded a bit, looking at the poster. "Luna was the best guitarist I've ever played with, and from what your friends have told me about you, she would be proud of you. She was kind, thoughtful, put the needs and safety of others before herself, and was always running fashionably late."

"What…what happened to her? I don't really remember her all that much."

"I wish I knew. I was helping her raise you after your father had a fatal encounter…we started growing pretty close, actually. But then, one day, she just upped and vanished while you two were on the road. I was informed about what had happened and how there were no signs of foul play or anything like that. She had just…disappeared. You were in my care for a bit, but I couldn't do it for too long, as I was getting ready to transition into being the head of Daemon Records, so looking after an infant lamb and managing a music company at the same time, it just couldn't work. So, against my better judgement, I used a little dark magic, a spell to keep you protected, and a few of my talent seekers just to keep an eye on you. Then, I took you to a nearby orphanage, assuming someone out there would've taken care of you better than I'd be able to…but I started to think you were secretly a Hellhound, because you…you jumped from family to family."

"Y-Yeah…" Lammy rubbed the back of her head, looking down at the floor. "I-It's been happening for so long, either the family didn't want to take care of me, I got in too many fights with my could be siblings, or I ran off on my own accord. The last family I got put with was…really, really bad, so, I just ran off again till I reached PaRappa Town. One of the local apartment complex owners saw me wondering the streets alone and took me in after I explained what I was doing, he even gave me a free room as long as I went to school, helped around the place and filed down my horns. Then I started meeting Katy and the others, and…the rest is history."

"It was…odd watching you jump about, I'll admit. Why don't you come inside?" Scratch offers, opening the door for her. Stepping inside, Lammy saw the place was much like an apartment. There was a desk cluttered with some papers and a few coins, and three glowing orbs in jars, one blue, one cream, and one orange. Hanging on the wall were some photos of her, her bandmates, and her with Lammy's mother. A few custom decorated microphones also hung upon the walls. There was a bed against one of the walls with some band posters, a small kitchen on the other side of the room. Lammy felt like she was in her old room again.

"…So…why do you need me and my guitar?" Lammy finally asks as Scratch sat a few chairs by the desk for them to sit on. "I'm still, really foggy on that detail."

"Well, Lammy…" Scratch pauses to sit down. "I believe with your talents we can locate your mother. But of course, in this line of business, there's always a catch." She reaches over for one of the papers and flicks it, turning it into a contract.

"I have to sign it, huh?" The lamb's ears fold a bit. "I-I still don't know…what if it doesn't work? And with everything that's happened…things are really screwed up now."

"That's true, and I wish to rectify my mistake in sending you here, but I need your help. You've done so much good for this town, Lammy, I don't even know where to start…" Scratch closed her eyes, putting the contract on the table before holding her hands outwards, the room slowly began to fill with bubbles, all with moments from Lammy's life in PaRappa Town. "You helped a lot of people without even asking for anything in return." She says as a bubble formed a memory before her. It was her enjoying pizza with the fire department.

"Thanks to you, we're able to keep our jobs!" Chief Puddle's voice spoke up, holding a bottle of sauce, and a plate with a piece of pizza on it. Another bubble formed, showing a memory of Lammy rocking out to an army of baby bunnies.

"Wammy! Wammy! Wammy!" They chanted.

"You know, most of those kids who aren't helping with the UnderGround, became rockstars themselves, siting you as their inspiration to learn instruments or sing." Scratch smiled as she watches the bubble change to show a few adult rabbits playing for large crowds before another one began to form, Captain FussenPepper was in it, saluting.

"I haven't seen anyone fly like that before! I thought I was gonna lose my license for sure!" He laughed a bit. A different bubble formed, showing Paul Chuck in a guitar shop, now fully stocked.

"I'm glad I decided to sponsor you girls! Because of you, my shop has seen more business than normal! I can afford to keep this place open!" The bubble floated off before another one formed, showing Teriyaki Yoko.

"I couldn't dream ANYONE playing like that! That was incredible!" The memory faded, but the bubbles stayed, hovering around Lammy.

"Let's not forget your friends. Helping PaRappa stop the syndicate from turning everything into noodles, help setting PJ up with Sweety…everything in between. And of course, your relationship with Katy…" Scratch pauses as bubbles began to form, showing moments Lammy had shared with the blue feline.

The time she had comforted Katy after she tripped and broke her custom guitar. Their first date, which involved going to the movies, getting a bite to eat, and buying some records from the record store before going home and cuddle together, listening to their music. The Halloween where they chose to do a duo costume…the night she sang solo in front of an audience to confess her feelings for Katy, and their first concert together. After that, the bubbles all faded away.

"You put everyone's happiness and general safety before your own…in fact, you're doing it right now. You've came back for your guitar in an attempt to save everyone from a future that I caused. Risking yourself getting captured, and with Gaster, maybe something worse, just to save your friends and town. And I want to know…if you'll be able to forgive me and help me find your mother." Scratch holds up the contract. Lammy took it, and read it over, noticing a few changes had been made. The idea of her being pulled away from the others was nowhere to be seen, in fact, it looked like MilkCan would officially be under Daemon records. Every now and then, she and Scratch would get together just to see what they could do about finding her mother. She reached for a pen before stopping, finally noticing the orbs in the jars.

"What are those?" Lammy questions.

"Those are your friends talents. They're about to finish healing actually." She says, picking up the blue jar, and a packet of crunched up maple leaves. She opened the jar and gently sprinkled the leaves over the orb, watching it glow brighter.

Lammy looked at the blue orb, seeing it hover there in there jar.

"So…they're ready to go back to Katy, PaRappa and Ma-San?" She felt some form of relief at the idea of her friends being able to play again.

"That's right." Scratch nodded as Lammy looks down at the contract. A sigh escapes through her nose before she grabs a pen, and signs on the dotted line.

("So, anybody got a plan?") Ma-San asks as Katy parks in the empty lot of the plaza before everyone got out, Katy grabbing a baseball bat.

"My plan's just to run in and smack the shit out of anyone who's hurting her…" The feline growled, her fur standing up a bit. Before she could get any farther, Paula and PJ quickly put their hands on her shoulder.

"Woah there, slugger." PJ says in his usual chill tone. "We ain't ready to charge in, gun ho."

"He's right…we don't have enough people to help us here." Paula shook her head, keeping a firm grip on the cat's shoulder. Before Katy could think of her next response, they're caught off guard by the sound of a window smashing, and looking up, they saw three colorful orbs, breaking through one of the windows of the tower, a blue, cream and orange one, all speeding towards them and smacking into Katy, PaRappa and Ma-San respectively, knocking them all to the floor as they began coughing and hacking.

"W-Woah!" Joe jumped a bit before kneeling down to Katy before helping her up, as Matt did the same for Ma-San, and Sweety for PaRappa.

"What was that? Are you guys okay?!" Sweety asked as she sits PaRappa up, still coughing.

"Y-Yeah, I'm…I'm…talking…" PaRappa paused when he noticed his lips were moving, and his voice wasn't coming out of the voice box. His voice was horsed, though given how long he's been silent, that was expected.

"W..Wha…" Katy's eyes widened when her voice did the same. "I…I can talk too!" Everyone looked to Ma-San, who forced the gloves off of her hands before cracking her knuckles.

("Ahh…I missed that sound.") She grinned balling her hands into fists a few times. Katy looked down at her hands and began pulling the gloves off, moving her fingers back and forth, listening to them crack a bit.

"Guess the talents finished healing…" Katy said before taking the voice box collar off, letting out a sigh of relief before she slowly stood up again before grabbing her bat, eyes shifting upward to the tower. "Still, we can celebrate later! We need to get Lammy back!"

"Yeah!" The others all nod their head as they got up, ready to charge the gates, ready to beat up any noodle dummy that got in their way, only to stop as the gates began to open up. They were ready for an army of the dummies on the other side, but once the gate finished, not only were they greeted by an army, but Scratch and Lammy were standing there, stepping out of the towers grounds. Lammy was smiling at the group, hugging her guitar close to her chest. Katy instantly dropped her bat and rushed towards them, kneeling down and throwing her arms around Lammy.

"Thank god…are you okay? Are you hurt at all?" She asks as she starts looking the lamb up and down like a mother would check her child for any injuries.

"I'm fine, Katy, really." The lamb says before getting pulled into one of Katy's well known rib cage crushing hugs.

"Heh…thanks for keeping an eye on her, Scratch." Parappa smiled, feeling relaxed, now that he saw his friend was okay, and to see she finally had her guitar again. It always felt like something was missing when she was walking around without it.

"No trouble, PaRappa. This whole situation was a big mess…I'm really sorry for putting you all through this. Hopefully you have a plan to fix this."

"It's okay." Katy smiled softly as she lets go of Lammy when she saw how blue she was, letting the poor girl breathe. "Still…I'm glad you found her before Gaster did." The tall wolf smiled softly at the group, nodding her head.

"You guys better get going. The sooner you get her back home, the faster the timeline will be fixed. And Lammy, don't forget, show my past self that contract. It'll stop all of this from happening. At least, I believe it should."

"You got it." Lammy nodded, smiling up at her. "T-Thank you so much, Scratch."

"Don't worry about it. Now, go on, get out of here." She smiled, watching as the group quickly rushed back for the truck, cheering as Matt and Joe lift Lammy up, sitting her on their shoulders in a celebratory manner. She could tell they were going to have a wild party at their hideout. Once they drove by, she could hear the laughter. They could finally have time to celebrate, something they've been waiting for years to do. Once they were out of sight, Scratch let out a sigh, and got ready to head back for her quarters. Upon turning around, she was greeted by Gaster, and an army of noodle dummies slowly surrounding her.

"So, I've just been told you gave 'em the guitar back, huh?" Gaster questioned, tapping a foot against the pavement, hands resting firmly in his pockets as the dummies aim their noodlizers at her.

"Sledgeuhammer is back with its rightful owner." The hellhound crossed her arms, glaring at the purple rabbit. "You're little game is over the second Lammy's able to get home."

"You say that like you're certain." He said with that slimy smirk he was well known for, his hand leaving his jacket's pocket, the usb plugged into their main computer between his index and middle finger. "Shame the little plan won't go too far." Scratches eyes widened as the syndicate dummies got closer to her, aiming their noodlizers at her.

"So let me get this straight…your mom is Luna Lambert?" Paula asked, a surprised look on her face.

"You know her?"

"Know her? Me and my dad use to listen to her records together all the time when I was a kid! There was always such a good vibe with that band's music!"

"So…what now?" Matt questioned.

"Now, we try to figure out what happened to that pendent of Sunny's so we can get Lammy home." Sweety answers. "You sure you don't know what happened to it?"

"It could be anywhere, Sweety." The flower girl sighs. "It could still be in my old home, somebody at base is probably hiding it, or someone has it and forgot to give it to me. It could be anywhere!"

"Alright…let's try and make a quick pit stop at the old neighborhood. We'll go to Sunny's house and turn the place upside down." Rammy suggests. "If we can't find it, then it's in the hide out, get everyone to search their pockets."

"Right, and after that, we should celebrate!" Joe suggested, holding a finger up, that old cocky smirk had returned to his face. "Lammy will be able to go when she's ready, I'm sure she'll want to take some time to have a good time! Hell, I think we all could use that after all the years we've spent trying to get here!"

"…You know what? Yeah, that sounds pretty good to me." Katy smiled, placing an arm around Lammy. "What do you think?" The lamb looked up at her, and around at her friends before a smile grew on her face.

"Yeah…yeah, I could use a party right about now." She chuckled softly, resting against the older cat as the truck sped down for the old neighborhood area. The syndicate rarely patrols the area anymore. No one had lived in these houses in ages judging by the wear and tear on the houses themselves, along with the boarded windows and doors, broken doors, or just missing doors in general. Even Sunny's home fell to this, as the lemon shape looked a little bit rotten. Everyone got out of the truck, and with a crowbar, Joe began removing the planks of wood blocking the door. Once they were all off, he gave the door a swift kick off it's hinges, allowing everyone to enter. Everyone split into groups of two, rummaging through each room of the house in search of Sunny's pendant. They searched the basement, moved things around, checked every cabinet in the kitchen, under the couch cushions, the couch itself, the chairs, whatever rooms they didn't have to break the door down for. Sunny and PaRappa were checking her old bedroom.

"Anything yet?" The flower asked, rummaging around under the bed, stopping when she felt her hand push against something small.

"Not yet!" PaRappa replied, moving old dresses in the closet. "What about you?"

"I think I found something!" She says, pulling out a small gray box with a lock on it. She used the flashlight she brought inside and started slamming it against the lock until it finally broke off the box, allowing her to open it. Moving the lid up, she found a few items sitting inside.

One was an old photo of the gang before everything had happened, all huddled together, doing silly faces to the camera. She handed the picture to PaRappa so he could look at it while she searched the rest of the box. Some old MilkCan tickets were under the image, and next to them was the pendant, which shined in Sunny's hand.

"Found it!" She smiled brightly, putting it around her neck.

"Awesome!" The dog grinned, slipping the photo back into the box, figuring Sunny would still want to hold onto it. Once she had the box safely under her arm, the two left the room. "Alright everybody! We found what we came for! Let's get back to base!" A few sighs of relief and a couple of cheers could be heard throughout the house as everyone got out and back for the truck. Once everyone was loaded in, Katy began to floor it back to the base, hoping to avoid any unwanted attention. As they drove past the city one more time, Lammy spotted X, running around on the rooftops. She felt relieved they were able to get out wherever they were being held captive.

Finally. It seems things were finally going right. Once they got back, everyone greeted their returns with cheers upon seeing the returned guitar in Lammy's hand. A classic PaRappa Town party was decided upon to celebrate their victory. Food was made, noodles and classic Beard Burger burgers, with some ice cream and soda beverages. PJ, after digging around, found his old DJ kit, while the others found their instruments. It was time to shake off some of that performers rust! A makeshift stage had been put together in the mess hall, and everyone was ready to play.

"Hey, here's an idea, Lammy." Lars says, taking the stage with his guitar in hand. "How about we give the others some time to practice, and we give these people a show?"

"You sure? You might still be a bit fresh." The red headed lamb smirked a bit, which was responded by a chuckle.

"Yeah right! I think I can handle a duel against you!"

"You're on then!" She nods before instantly playing a guitar riff, eyes closed. She stopped after a moment and opened an eye to look at him, waiting for Lars to follow suit. He adjusted his strap a bit before closing his eyes, and plays a similar riff, without missing a note a playing a bad one.

"Ohh, not bad." Lammy nods in approval before fighting back with another rift.

"Not bad yourself." He smirks at her before jamming out another riff. The two would bounce back and forth, their riffs getting longer and a little more intense, which was getting everyone in the base hyped. Soon, Ma-San would join in with her drumset, Katy and Rammy would tag in with their guitars, and soon, most of the lights were shot, making everyone stop playing until different colored lights began to shine throughout the mess hall as PJ scratched his records. Once the bear stopped scratching, everyone quickly got back in the swing of it with their instruments. Matt smirked and tossed PaRappa his golden mic just as Katy started to sing.

"All we need is music, running 'round the city, every day!" Katy hummed, feeling her throat. It felt as good as it use to! "You got to stop and listen to the beat! Move your funky feat!" PaRappa would take the stage as she began to harmonize.

"Representing one time for your mind! All everybody likes to do is have some fun, I'm so happy! I'm so happy!" PaRappa began rapping, everyone in the mess hall started bopping their heads to the beat, cheering.

"Just fun and games, no syndicate I say!

"Positive vibes is what we need today!

"Couldn't have this kind of fun 'cause my voice was gone.

"When I play tag it's hard to run when my pants sag,

"Don't stay out late! Don't wanna make the UnderGround mad!

"But tonight, we'll party till the night ends, so I can rock out with all of my friends!

"Katy, Sunny, PJ, who's my DJ, look out for each other when we're out for the day!

"Whether a concert, or on PaRappa Town Grounds, or under a shady tree so this dog's coolin' down!

"Friendships can't be dismissed, we gotta believe! So y'all gotta believe in this!

"We're friends to the end, but not like Chucky, we might even do a free show if you're lucky!"

The crowd cheers as the band continued to play, unaware that just outside the base, they were about to deal with some unwanted visitors as Syndicate dummies began to swarm the outside gate. No one was guarding outside, as they wanted to enjoy the fun. Just as the band was finishing the song they were playing, a Syndicate tank fired at the doors, turning them into noodles. The Underground members gasped and quickly got on the defense as dummies began to swarm inside.

"Lars, get Lammy to safety." Katy said, putting her guitar down.

"You got it, hon." He nods, moving his guitar over his shoulder so it was laying on his back before he grabbed Lammy, and rushed for the sleeping halls.

"W-Wait! How did they find us?!" Lammy questioned, watching as the mess hall filled up before the doors were forced shut by Joe.

"I don't know…but until it's safe, find a place to hide in here." He says before putting her down. "If any of them get passed me, I doubt they'll want to check every single cell for you." He looked to the door, holding his guitar up like a sword as Lammy ran off. She hid in one of the farthest cells she could get to and crouched down. She wanted to be out there and fight, but it looked like the entire noodle syndicate was out there, and in such a small space like an old prison cafeteria? She was going to get crowded fast. She pulls out the pick, seeing it still glitch out, begging for it to turn back on or stop misbehaving. How was she supposed to fix this?! She rubbed her thumb against it, tapping her fingers against the side of her head.

"Please, please work…Teriyaki Yoko, where are you when I need you?!" She mutters to herself, shaking the little pick. "Come on, come on…!"

As she continued shaking and rubbing it, she could hear the fighting going on in the mess hall, and how intense it was getting. She needed to get out there and help, fast! Soon, it became really quiet, however. Curious, she got up, put the pick away again, and wielded her guitar like a weapon, keeping her guard up as she made her way back for the door. Sweat slowly began to roll down her face as she got closer to the door, and once there, she slowly opened it with her foot, giving herself a chance to see the aftermath.

Lars, and several noodle dummies were unconscious. Everyone else was gone. Quickly, she slid next to the unconscious sheep and started shaking him violently.

"L-Lars, wake up! Wake up! Where is everybody?!" She questions, just as he was going to.

"Hu-huh?" Lammy let him go, allowing him to get his vision back. He slowly looked around, seeing how empty the hall was. "Ohh…shit. Everybody got grabbed."

"Grabbed?"

"They're probably luring us into a trap." He shook his head. "If I had to guess…somebody found our flash drive and traced it's origins to our base."

"W…What do we do?" Lammy questioned. Before he could throw an answer out, they heard a car horn just outside. Rushing out, they saw X, sitting outside the base with Lammy's motorcycle.

"You left this in the city." They said. "Come on. We have a city to save."

One quick install of the old side car later, the trio of sheep rode off, following the syndicate army for the old junkyard on the other side of the city.